AVATAR land coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom

[J03Y]

Yeah, I know - it was because DAK was overbudget, I think - Beastlie Kingdomme turned into Lost Continent at IOA, then Mysterious Island was supposed to take over the space from Tokyo DisneySea, and now we're getting Avatar!

ugh, just make the land already! dsjfhsjklfdsfgsdhfgdhj who cares about overbudget, they'd easily get all the money back within a week cause everyone and their mother would've wanted to come see it.

 

[ChrisFL]

i guess they could keep the rest of the park open, but there might be a problem with trying to let the animals sleep... idk. it's confusing.

and i love Primeval Whirl, i really don't know why people dislike it so much. it's like Crazy Mouse on steroids djkhgskfgsdgs

The problem is that its as "off-the-shelf" as you can get....you could spend 1/4 the price and ride the same exact thing at Cypress Gardens a few years ago before it was closed/converted to LegoLand.

 

[J03Y]

The problem is that its as "off-the-shelf" as you can get....you could spend 1/4 the price and ride the same exact thing at Cypress Gardens a few years ago before it was closed/converted to LegoLand.

what? Disney can't have their own set of Fair rides? they obviously did it to fill up space in Dinoland, but whatever. i love the ride itself, it's supposed to be like that.

 

[Beholder]

It's fairly obvious just reading these posts that Disney has a wellspring of properties and potential built into the AK. It's a shame that the "fan community" can, in a relative small amount of time, come up with some absolute winners it terms of attraction ideas, yet TDO/Disney has to reach out to a third party (Avatar) to try and get the "next big thing". Maybe TDO needs more fans and a few less "suits". A career at Disney has always struck me as a labor of love. Where's the love?

 

[doctornick]

and i love Primeval Whirl, i really don't know why people dislike it so much. it's like Crazy Mouse on steroids djkhgskfgsdgs.

I never understood it either -- it's a pretty fun ride and unique in style to anything else at WDW. Sure, it could use more emersive theming, but from the standpoint of the ride mechinics itself, it's quite enjoyable.

My biggest "problem" with Primeval Whirl is that it's not for smaller children. The midway idea is fine, but you need to have more than one ride that is accessable to all ages (and more than two total). Building another ride in the area that can be enjoyed by everyone would make a lot of sense to me and be beneficial in creasing the park's capacity, especially if the front park is kept open later at night while the live animal back park closes.

 

[Magenta Panther]

It's fairly obvious just reading these posts that Disney has a wellspring of properties and potential built into the AK. It's a shame that the "fan community" can, in a relative small amount of time, come up with some absolute winners it terms of attraction ideas, yet TDO/Disney has to reach out to a third party (Avatar) to try and get the "next big thing". Maybe TDO needs more fans and a few less "suits". A career at Disney has always struck me as a labor of love. Where's the love?

Indeed!!! I've said before that it's as if Robert Iger has no faith in the drawing power of actual Disney creations, so he feels he has to reach outside of the studio to find something to compete with, oh, Potter or whatever. I thought it was hilarious when he announced the Avatar project, and then a few weeks later, "The Lion King 3D" came out and blew away the competition at the box office, and wound up making around 100 million during its run. Made Iger look like a complete FOOL. Hey, Bobby boy, did a "Lion King" dark ride ever cross your mind? Apparently not. Yeesh!

 

[Beholder]

Indeed!!! I've said before that it's as if Robert Iger has no faith in the drawing power of actual Disney creations, so he feels he has to reach outside of the studio to find something to compete with, oh, Potter or whatever. I thought it was hilarious when he
announced the Avatar project, and then a few weeks later, "The Lion King 3D" came out and
blew away the competition at the box office,
and wound up making around 100 million during
its run. Made Iger look like a complete FOOL.
Hey, Bobby boy, did a "Lion King" dark ride ever
cross your mind? Apparently not. Yeesh!

Lion King, Jungle Book, 101 Dalmations, Disney has an entire library of underdeveloped properties. I actually think that if done correctly and with a budget, Pandora/Avatar may be great, but I would rather see something from Disney's own "world".

 

[ChrisFL]

what? Disney can't have their own set of Fair rides?

#1.) Walt wasn't a fan of tacky carnival attractions and Dino-Rama is the tackiest looking anywhere
#2.) Animal Kingdom was a half-built park...to remedy the situation they put the cheapest possible attractions in, which could have been fine if they did some decent theming to it (enclosing the Primeval Whirl and adding real theming could have made it a much cooler experience)

 

[unkadug]

#1.) Walt wasn't a fan of tacky carnival attractions and Dino-Rama is the tackiest looking anywhere
#2.) Animal Kingdom was a half-built park...to remedy the situation they put the cheapest possible attractions in, which could have been fine if they did some decent theming to it (enclosing the Primeval Whirl and adding real theming could have made it a much cooler experience)

I love how people like to put words into a dead man's mouth and the second half of that statement is personal opinion.

 

[threeyoda]

#1.) Walt wasn't a fan of tacky carnival attractions and Dino-Rama is the tackiest looking anywhere
#2.) Animal Kingdom was a half-built park...to remedy the situation they put the cheapest possible attractions in, which could have been fine if they did some decent theming to it (enclosing the Primeval Whirl and adding real theming could have made it a much cooler experience)

Don't know if you've ever seen this, but it's interesting, and makes me appreciate Dinoland more:

http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2009/08/chester_and_hesters_dinorama.html

 

[spacemt354]

#1.) Walt wasn't a fan of tacky carnival attractions and Dino-Rama is the tackiest looking anywhere
#2.) Animal Kingdom was a half-built park...to remedy the situation they put the cheapest possible attractions in, which could have been fine if they did some decent theming to it (enclosing the Primeval Whirl and adding real theming could have made it a much cooler experience)

#1. You can't really say he didn't like tacky carnival attractions. This debate happened in another thread about disney world and these types of ride systems used in Dino-Rama. Just look at Dumbo, same thing as Triceratop's Spin. Would you call Dumbo tacky? In my opinion, the dumbo ride is a classic that uses the same ride system as a carnival does. So what if the ride system is simplistic, or "tacky", all that matters is the experience.

#2. Animal Kingdom was a half-built park, and it still is. A lot of things were just supposed to be temporary. Like CMM, but Beastly Kingdom never came about and will never happen because the original designer left disney and went to universal to create dueling dragons (a ride that could have been in ak) Cheap can't really be said about AK though, in my opinion. It is such an ambitious park, and one of the main concerns disney had when it opened was that it was compared to a zoo. (hence the park's slogan "natazu" or whatever) Since the park has the most immersive themes of any disney park I have ever been to, anything that doesn't live up to those themes is going to be considered cheap by a majority of people. Dino-rama is considered cheap because it completely contrasts the rest of animal kingdom with its bright colors and carnival type-setting. I'm not defending dino-rama, but I feel like much of hoopla over it is because the mouse coaster primeval whirl is the park's 3/4th best ride, which brings down the park's overall quality. It's kinda like having the old toontown fair be the 3rd best land in the Magic Kingdom behind frontierland and tomorrowland. Animal Kingdom is still missing its Adventureland and Fantasyland. I believe that in the next 5-10 years or so, if Animal Kingdom gets a huge face lift, people won't be bashing dino-rama too much. The area will quitely resort to being the toontown fair of a larger AK park that could eventually include avatar, austrailia, and/or other things as well.

 

[ChrisFL]

#1. You can't really say he didn't like tacky carnival attractions. This debate happened in another thread about disney world and these types of ride systems used in Dino-Rama. Just look at Dumbo, same thing as Triceratop's Spin. Would you call Dumbo tacky? In my opinion, the dumbo ride is a classic that uses the same ride system as a carnival does. So what if the ride system is simplistic, or "tacky", all that matters is the experience.

Walt Disney said: "A word may be said in regard to the concept and conduct of Disneyland's operational tone. Although various sections will have the fun and flavor of a carnival or amusement park. There will be none of the pitches, game wheels, sharp practices, and devices designed to milk the visitor's pocket book."

Photos from Dino-Rama:

Sorry, this doesn't scream Disney Quality to me.

#2. Animal Kingdom was a half-built park, and it still is. A lot of things were just supposed to be temporary. Like CMM, but Beastly Kingdom never came about and will never happen because the original designer left disney and went to universal to create dueling dragons (a ride that could have been in ak) Cheap can't really be said about AK though, in my opinion. It is such an ambitious park, and one of the main concerns disney had when it opened was that it was compared to a zoo. (hence the park's slogan "natazu" or whatever) Since the park has the most immersive themes of any disney park I have ever been to, anything that doesn't live up to those themes is going to be considered cheap by a majority of people. Dino-rama is considered cheap because it completely contrasts the rest of animal kingdom with its bright colors and carnival type-setting. I'm not defending dino-rama, but I feel like much of hoopla over it is because the mouse coaster primeval whirl is the park's 3/4th best ride, which brings down the park's overall quality. It's kinda like having the old toontown fair be the 3rd best land in the Magic Kingdom behind frontierland and tomorrowland. Animal Kingdom is still missing its Adventureland and Fantasyland. I believe that in the next 5-10 years or so, if Animal Kingdom gets a huge face lift, people won't be bashing dino-rama too much. The area will quitely resort to being the toontown fair of a larger AK park that could eventually include avatar, austrailia, and/or other things as well.

No, Dino-rama is considered cheap compared to the very standards Disney upheld for the 40+ years before that, if we ignore DCA which was also along the same tacky vein until a BILLION dollar overhaul was made.

 

[spacemt354]

Walt Disney said: "A word may be said in regard to the concept and conduct of Disneyland's operational tone. Although various sections will have the fun and flavor of a carnival or amusement park. There will be none of the pitches, game wheels, sharp practices, and devices designed to milk the visitor's pocket book."

Sorry, this doesn't scream Disney Quality to me.

No, Dino-rama is considered cheap compared to the very standards Disney upheld for the 40+ years before that, if we ignore DCA which was also along the same tacky vein until a BILLION dollar overhaul was made.

That quote is about Disneyland. This is the Animal Kingdom. Although the company holds itself to the visions of Walt Disney, that quote specifically applies to Disneyland, and not to the AK. If it doesn't scream disney quality to you, then I would suggest reading threeyoda's article on dino-rama. I knew there was a story behind it, but I didn't even realize half of the things the article pointed out

And again, I am not defending dino-rama. Is it the best disney can do? No. Is it cheap? Not to me, but to you and others it is. And you cannot tell someone their opinion is wrong. It's simply their opinion, it's not fact. You are entitled to believe whatever you want.

Also you point to the billion dollar overhaul of DCA to sort of diminish the spotlight of the carnival type aspects of the park. I literally just said in my post that you quoted that if AK gets Avatar and other additions, Dino-rama will resort to a toontown fair type land, rather than a "major" land.

 

[flynnibus]

Love how people forget holiday land... And the other circus elements Disney himself played with in Disneyland.

Do the 'experts' even read any books on the subject matter?

 

[Alektronic]

The problem is that its as "off-the-shelf" as you can get....you could spend 1/4 the price and ride the same exact thing at Cypress Gardens a few years ago before it was closed/converted to LegoLand.

That ride is now at Fun Spot Kissimmee on 192 and it is called the Power Trip coaster.

 

[Alektronic]

That quote is about Disneyland. This is the Animal Kingdom. Although the company holds itself to the visions of Walt Disney, that quote specifically applies to Disneyland, and not to the AK. If it doesn't scream disney quality to you, then I would suggest reading threeyoda's article on dino-rama. I knew there was a story behind it, but I didn't even realize half of the things the article pointed out

And again, I am not defending dino-rama. Is it the best disney can do? No. Is it cheap? Not to me, but to you and others it is. And you cannot tell someone their opinion is wrong. It's simply their opinion, it's not fact. You are entitled to believe whatever you want.

Also you point to the billion dollar overhaul of DCA to sort of diminish the spotlight of the carnival type aspects of the park. I literally just said in my post that you quoted that if AK gets Avatar and other additions, Dino-rama will resort to a toontown fair type land, rather than a "major" land.

The problem also was that wasn't the original plans either, so the backstory was added later for Dino-Rama, so they could add some cheap carnival rides. The original concept and plans called for a unique roller coaster called the Excavator. Do a search for DAK Excavator coaster and read about it. Here is one of the several articles about it

http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_c...er-built-at-disney-s-animal-kingdom-park.aspx

 

[djlaosc]

Here's a hypothetical question for everyone...

If you could replace Dinorama with the kind of things we were talking about earlier (aquarium, prehistoric creatures attractions, etc.), would you be happy for Primeval Whirl and the carnival games to move to Storybook Circus in the Magic Kingdom (where it would seem they would fit better)?

 

[NoChesterHester]

Here's a question for everyone...

If you could replace Dinorama with the kind of things we were talking about earlier (aquarium, prehistoric creatures attractions, etc.), would you be happy for Primeval Whirl and the carnival games to move to Storybook Circus in the Magic Kingdom (where it would seem they would fit better)?

It isn't like there is a dearth of things to do at the MK. I would rather we bulldoze tacky things.

 

[NoChesterHester]

The problem also was that wasn't the original plans either, so the backstory was added later for Dino-Rama, so they could add some cheap carnival rides. The original concept and plans called for a unique roller coaster called the Excavator. Do a search for DAK Excavator coaster and read about it. Here is one of the several articles about it

http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_c...er-built-at-disney-s-animal-kingdom-park.aspx

That cheap carnival area cost close to a hundred million from what I've heard. Makes it all the worse in my opinion.

 

[invader]

Here's a hypothetical question for everyone...

If you could replace Dinorama with the kind of things we were talking about earlier (aquarium, prehistoric creatures attractions, etc.), would you be happy for Primeval Whirl and the carnival games to move to Storybook Circus in the Magic Kingdom (where it would seem they would fit better)?

No. Storybook Circus has Barnstormer and two Dumbo spinners, there would be no need.